NARENDRA KUMAR MEHTA Vs. SURAJ MEHTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two appeals arise out of an order made under S. 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) awarding interim maintenance to the wife and the child of the respondent in O. P. L No. 102 of 1981 on the file of the II additional Judge, City Civil Court, Hyderabad.

(2.) The petitioner herein is the wife and she filed an application under s. 9 of the Act for restitution of conjugal rights on the ground of desertion. On the date of the petition, she had a child aged about two-and-half years. There is no dispute about the relationship between the parties. The husband claims that it was the wife that was guilty of desertion and, therefore, not entitled to the relief. Pending that petition, the wife claimed a sum of Rs. 600.00 for herself and Rs. 200.00 for the minor child towards maintenance, and Rs. 2,000.00 towards legal expenses. In support of her petition, she stated that while she was at Rajkot with her parents, she was somehow maintained by her parents and she was also getting some commission for collecting the Pigmy Bank contributions. She came down to Hyderabad and was staying in the house of her sister expecting the respondent-husband to take back her and the child into his house. The husband resisted the wifes claim, among others, on the ground that there behaviour was intolerable, that she had developed jealousy and un-adjustable temperament towards the other members of the family consisting of his aged mother and brothers and that his own income was not more than Rs. 700.00 per month from out of the partnership business and that there are no merits in the petitioners application for restitution of conjugal rights.

(3.) The learned trial Judge granted Rs. 300.00 to the wife and Rs. 150.00 to the child as interim maintenance with effect from 30-10-1979. He also granted Rs. 1,000.00 towards legal expenses. Both the wife and the husband have preferred appeals.